As car enthusiasts, we always focus on the sexy side of the automotive world.
I mean, that is after all why we all became car enthusiasts in the first place.
We tend to lean towards cars with good looks or insane performance, or both.
But then there are weird quirky cars.
You know, the ones a lot of us make fun of.
Well I decided to make a video featuring 13 of the most quirkiest cars out there.
If you own one of these cars, please don't get offended
First up on our list is the Peel P50.
This car was named the worlds smallest car by the guiness book of world records in 2010.
It sports 1 seat, 1 door, 1 headlamp, and barely enough space to fit a human being into
it.
It’s literally just double the size of one of those fisher price crazy coupes we all
had as kids, and quite frankly, looks a lot like one too!
It only has 3.35 horsepower and tops out at 37mph, but on the plus side, will get you
roughley 83 miles per gallon of gas.
One of the stranger factoids about this car is that it has no reverse function on it’s
3 speed manual transmission.
This means you literally have to stick your foot out the door and Fred Flinstone it, in
order to backup!
They recently started making brand new replicas of these, but come with a price tag of $16,000.
I could literally do a 4 hour video of vehicles that would be better for less money that would
include the likes of golf carts and mopeds.
Not really sure what the appeal would be there, but I’m sure there’s someone out there
just quirky enough for it.
Let’s face it, when it comes to the world of being quirky, nobody quite gets the job
done quite like Japan.
And that quirky innovation is showcased in the next car on this list, the 1996 Suzuki
X90. this 2 door 2 seater coupe, was built as a replacement for the samurai compact SUV
for the US market.
Not really sure how this would be a replacement for an SUV of any kind, which had to have
contributed to its criticism at the X90’s debut in 1993.
SUVs, typically are meant to have extra cargo space than cars, and this thing had a trunk
so small and useless, I’m not even sure why they bothered putting one on it.
They introduced this oddball, as a car intended not only for the young, but also, the young
at heart who wanted something different.
Nobody can argue that they did not deliver on the different part, and god knows this
was not going to be for speed demons and street racers, considering it’s lackluster 1.6l,
4 cylinder engine that gave you a whopping 95hp.
But What it did offer, however, was a neat little vehicle to do modest off-roading in.
In fact, if you got it in the AWD configuration it actually served that purpose pretty well,
making it a pretty cool beach car for the 90’s.
Unfortunately for Suzuki, it’s off road capabilities were not enough to keep it going.
Only 7,205 were ever imported to the US, and that closed this odd chapter in the Suzuki
book.
If you’re interested you can still find them today, and for only about $5000.00.
Let’s take a look at this classic 70’s quirk, the 1975 AMC Pacer.
The 70’s were an interesting time.
This decade gave birth to some truly badass cars, even better rock music, but super questionable
interior decor choices.
The 2 door 4 seater Pacer had a different approach when being designed.
They took the inside out approach, meaning they started with the chassey and seating,
then built the vehicle around that as compact as possible.
AMC was anticipating a market demand for smaller cars, and wanted to be ahead of the curve
with something that wouldn’t just fit 4 people in it, but COMFORTABLY fit 4 people
in it.
The end result was them completely nailing the objective.
For its size it had pretty good clearances!
It also had a more notable accolade to gain respect from the more serious gear head.
It took 2nd place in the 1979 Baja 1000, being driven by Bob Olsen and Bob Stone.If you’re
wondering where you’ve seen this, what they called a “jelly bean” design before, it
was probably in the Wayne’s World movies, which was it’s more notable cameo.
This car was called a lot of different things, AMC called it “the first wide small car”.
Car and Driver in 1976 called it “the flying fish bowl”, also referred to it as “the
George Jetson mode of transportation” but, we here at Vehicle Virals just like to call
it quirky, and pretty cool.
So Let’s face facts here, it wouldn’t be a Vehicle Virals video if BMW wasn’t
mentioned in some form or fashion.
Yeah, yeah, yeah so sue me, BUT!
You might be wondering, “which beemer could have possibly made this list?
They don’t really make anything THAT quirky.”
Well, my friends, that’s because you’ve never come across number 4 on the list, the
BMW Isetta 250 and 300.
We’re venturing back into the Fisher Price class of cars now, but at least this one could
go in reverse!
Nick named “the bubble car” for painfully obvious reasons, this bad boy became the king
of 1 cylinders, cranking out a whopping 13hp!
When you open the front facing door and get it, you will be underwhelmed by the 1 church
pew for a seat it has, and the tight confines as well.
But c’mon!
What do you expect from an automobile that was designed as a loophole so people could
drive it with no more paperwork than what you’d need to drive a moped with?
The Isetta was originally an Italian design, but the Germans took it over, and, objectively
made it better, and I do mean OBJECTIVELY in this case.
Once they finished, none of the parts from the italian version were compatible with the
new German made Isetta.
That gives you a pretty good idea of what BMW thought of its design before the take
over, but to their credit they did end up breaking a world record with their version.
All in all, the Isetta ended up achieving some level of success considering it sold
about 161,728 units, making it the top selling single cylinder car in the world.
Still, nothing I’d ever fantasize about owning, but to each their own.
Quirky cars are usually very unusual cars that fill a void in the auto world for an
even more unusual niche market.
I find none more unusual or niche than our number 5 spot on this list, The 2018 Smart
for Two Electric.
Look, if you live in a major city in the US, we’re all pretty used to, and familiar with
Smart cars, they’re common enough and have been for an amount of time that now we don’t
stare and snicker anymore.
The electric version was actually a pretty big step for the company, that went almost
entirely unnoticed, because, well, frankly most of us don’t care.
These crank out about 80hp with 118 pounds of torque, you only get about 70 to 80 miles
on a full charge, and it takes about 3 hours to fully recharge, unless you’re unlucky
enough to have to charge it on a 120 volt, then you’re looking at about 16.5 hours…
Yikes!
Now all of that isn’t so bad, I get it, you’re trying to go green, chip in on saving
the environment so my state doesn’t disappear into the ocean.
Here’s where I take issue with it, the MSRP on these is $28,750.00!
Where do they get the balls?!
A brand new Tesla model 3 has an MSRP of $36,000.00, not that much more, and has this car beat
in every conceivable category, while still being the environmentally conscious car you
wanted!
More tech, waaaaay faster, actually fun to drive, 260 - 310 miles per charge, the list
goes on.
And, ok, I get it we have a budget, so if that $28,750 price is where you actually want
to be, then get a Chevy Volt. it's going to be much closer in price to the smart, and
again beat in every possible category.
It’s almost as though being super small is the attraction to the smart car crowd.
It must be an arrogance thing, in the sense that you can take the moral high ground over
all the other electric car drivers, because yours is smaller, so it must be better for
the environment.
But, guess what?
It’s not!
It’s just an overpriced sub par car!
You’re literally better off getting a moped in this case.
Number 6 on the list here is going to take us to the UK where we’re going to get a
glimpse at a very iconic car, but is more commonly used as the butt end of a joke.
Have you guessed it yet?
Yes, that’s right, the 1973 Reliant Robin.
This goofy ass 3 wheeled laughing stock was famously featured on an episode of Top Gear,
which is why most of you probably recognize it.
Now all jokes aside, it is a peculiar and tiny car, but like most of the cars like it
on this list, served as an inexpensive vehicle that could be driven with only a Motorcycle
license.
The 3 wheel design also made this vehicle fall into a motorcycle tax rate, which made
it less expensive to own one.
All pretty good ways to work around the law in order to make car ownership more feasible
for people with lower income.
Now there’s the famous issue I know you just can’t wait for me to get to…
The high roll-over rate.
Yeah it’s no secret that a 3 wheeled vehicle is more likely to roll over, it’s pretty
much common sense, using basic physics knowledge.
BUT, the roll over problem was actually greatly exaggerated in the Top Gear episode.
Some time after that episode aired, Jeremy Clarkson admitted that they tampered with
the differential to get it to roll more often.
They are a little bit safer than we all thought, but if you are for some reason still driving
one, I would strongly suggest you refrain from taking a 90 degree turn while going full
speed.
Up next is something more on the rare and exotic side of things, or at least it was
trying to be packaged up and passed off as exotic.
I’m talking about the Volkswagen XL1 and it’s number 7 on our list.
The XL1 was a swing at something different by Volkswagan, when they decided to give this
guy a shot.
It was only available in Europe and they limited production to just 250 units.
It was kind of an interesting venture, It was Volkswagen really stepping outside of
their box when they came out with this diesel powered, plug-in hybrid, 2 seater.
It’s kind of misleading though, it looks like a really fun and zippy roadster, but
in reality it was more of a practical car.
It’s body, engine and transmission were all built for economy, and this was depressingly
reinforced by it’s lack luster 0 to 60 in 12.5 seconds.
Looking at the car you would think you’re in for a real treat on the track.
It has all the makings of a supercar.
It’s constructed primarily out of carbon fiber, aluminum and plastic, has the butterfly
doors and sits even lower than a Ferrari F8 Tributo.
So of course you would assume it would take off like a ferrari, but in reality you wouldn’t
be able to beat the Peel P50 we talked about earlier in a stoplight drag race.
So what does Volkswagen’s limited edition, eco friendly economic car cost?
Around $140,000!
Well I guess the price is where Volkswagen decided to stop being conservative.
They didn’t even come up with the body style, everybody knows it’s plagiarized off of
the GM EV1.
In all seriousness though, It’s not always about speed and performance, the XL1 did achieve
an impressive 240 miles per gallon, and achieved their goal of creating an ultra eco friendly
car.
But the high price tag coupled with Volkswagen’s emission scandal put an end to the XL1 continuing
as a regular production car in the Volkswagen lineup under a different name.
Number 8 on the list is going to take us yet again to the European market, but focus on
a different class of quirky car.
We’re going to dibble our toes in the untreaded waters of crossovers.
Let me introduce you to the 2017 Citroen C4 Cactus!
It seems like everyone is trying to take a stab at the crossover scene, Mitsubishi even
gave a breath of new life to the discontinued Eclipse and brought it back as a crossover.
The brands Messiah now drives among us in a mixed reviewed new form, so why can’t
Citroen do something just as weird?
Well they can, and they did, and in fact they debuted it as a concept car in 2007, so they
actually did it before Mitsubish AND it’s even weirder!
OK, ok, ok, it’s not THAT weird, but it does have this one distinct feature that has
us cringing.
It’s their air bump panels on the doors.
The concept behind them is great, they’re there to protect the car from dings and scratches,
which is nice that a car manufacturer is thinking of a way to keep your car looking sharp for
the long run.
Except that it fails completely at this, because it looks like shit right out of the factory.
Seriously, I would rather just have the dings and scratches…
At least you have to get up close and personal to see them.
The panels look terrible as soon as you see them, close or far.
They’re about as noticeable as a skid mark on tightey whiteys.
Everything else about this subcompact crossover SUV is exactly what you’d expect from CItroen.
Amenity filled, smooth ride, enough pep in its step for an SUV and great on gas.
It’s just that one big ugly detail, and I’m not alone on this, after only 3 years
they ditched the panels and started making them look classy and sharp like you’d expect
a european car to be.
If the mullet haircut was personified as a car, it would be number 9, the 1978 Subaru
BRAT.
The Bi-drive recreational all-terrain transporter, or BRAT for short, was Japan’s export only
car but for tax purposes... a truck.
So back in the 70’s there was a 25% tariff on all foreign import trucks, which obviously
spiked up the price when it finally got to the consumer.
So to avoid this, Subaru made a truck, then basically threw a couple lawn chairs in the
back, duck taped them down, then bing! bang!
Boom!
Now it’s a car!
I mean these back seats were in true 70’s fashion, in the sense that safety wasn’t
even considered, completely reckless.
As kids, you and your siblings had some serious choices to make when calling seating.Do you
risk falling out everytime your dad hits a pothole, or stay up front with pops while
he chain smokes?
Either way, someone is going to have to hold his beer while he parallel parks.The 78’
BRATs were notoriously underpowered with only about 70hp under the hood which was remedied
in later models with a turbo, bumping the HP to 100.
These things were actually pretty capable on different terrains, perfect as a keg transporter
to the party in the woods with plenty of room for half the school.
The BRAT became a true icon of American badass, when it was featured as the car of choice
by Rex of Rex-Kwon-do in the movie Napoleon Dynamite.
True legend status vehicle of the quirkiest kind.
Number 10 on the list was a good ole fashioned early 2000’s throwback to the 50’s, and
it was done so with style and tons of muscle.
The 10 spot belongs to the 2003 Chevrolet SSR.
The late 90’s and early 2000’s was a time for these retro throwbacks for the auto industry,
and they picked an awesome time era to model after, the 40’s and 50’s.
The most famous of these old school nostalgia designs would definitely have to be the PT
Cruiser, but unlike the PT Cruiser, the Chevy SSR didn’t look like a pile of dog shit.
It actually pulled off the old style with a new twist look, and became something you’d
actually want to drive.
Not only did it look good, but it had some serious power too!
They took the same V-8 engine from the C6 Corvette, and placed it in the SSR, giving
it a respectful 300hp.
You could do 0 to 60 in 7.7 seconds!
Just to make it even sweeter, they threw in a hardtop retractable roof, just to score
it some more unneeded style points.
The 2006 models took these to the next level with some small modifications, unleashing
about 400hp!
Oddly enough, these cars didn’t really last long, they were only made for 3 years, and
the SSR found itself on an unusual list not of 8 worst Indy cars ever.
It was also revealed that the SSR became very unstable at 200mph while one was being used
to attempt a land speed record.
It shows just how narrow of a market this quirky car appealed to, when you had such
an incredible package and it dies in 3 years, but the dumpster fire we call the PT Cruiser
went on to be made for 10 years.
Italy is definitely a Mecca for style and fashion.
It seems to run through their blood, they just know how to look good, and everything
they make looks like a million dollars.
It comes natural to them, they don’t even have to try, infact, they have a word for
that.
It’s called “Sprezzatura” which roughly translates to “a certain non-chanlance”.
But what happens when Italians try too hard?
Well then you get the eyesore at number 11, The 1999 Fiat Multipla.
This multi purpose vehicle was based on the Brava, but offered increased seating and cargo
space.
It has an adequate 4 cylinder, 102hp engine and gets decent gas mileage.
It actually is a pretty good car, in fact Top Gear named it “car of the year” in
2000, but also gave it the prestigious award of “The Ugliest Car”, and that’s what
landed this vehicle on our list today.
It all really boils down to one aesthetic choice, this love handle right here.
Sure there’s other reasons why it makes us want to gouge our eyes out when we look
at it, but that one detail throws it completely down the drain.
Thankfully, though, Fiat finally came to their senses and got rid of it in the 2004 redesign,
effectively preventing it from further criticism about its appearance.
Number 12 is a brand I’m sure none of you expected to see on here, but it earned a place
nonetheless.
We’re going to dive in and take a look at the 1986 Lamborghini LM002, also known as
the “Rambo Lambo”.
The conception of the LM002, was created as a vehicle intended for military forces.
Unfortunately for Lamborghini, it was not well received and the only notable military
use (and I use that term military very loosely in this context) it got, was that Uday Hussein
owned one.
If we’re being honest though, your car being owned by a brutal dictator’s son, isn’t
exactly what we call “good PR”.
It would eventually end up in the hands of the US military in 2004, and was used to demonstrate
the effectiveness of roadside bombs, which for car people is bittersweet.
The civilian version delivered everything you’d expect from Lamborghini in terms of
luxury and comfort.
Power tinted windows, leather seats, AC and even a roof mounted stereo system.
Pirelli was commissioned to make the tires for it, and the italian tire company delivered
“the scorpion” which had a custom run flat design to it.
If that wasn;t enough, it boasted a V12 engine under the hood, which is exactly what we’d
expect from Lamborghini.
It’s actually both a shame and a mystery as to why they did away with the LM002, when
Mercedes’ G-Wagon is popular and prolific.
The last time we’d really see or hear about the Rambo Lambo is in the 2009 release of
“The Fast and the Furious” and just like that, POOF, it disappeared forever.
OK so last but not least on our list of quirky cars is number 13, The Nissan Cube.
Yes we should all be familiar with these cars, we see them all the time.
Typically the car of choice by IT pros, hardcore gamers and anime enthusist.
But let’s be honest, Anime enthusiasts tend to love ANYTHING from Japan.
If the Japanese make LITERALLY anything, these guys would be lining up to buy it.
Interesting factoid here, but the Cube has been around since 1998, but was a japanese
only vehicle.
Also, the 1st generation of this car did not have the feature that really got it on this
list, that awkward wrap around window.
This wouldn’t be added until the 2nd generation of the Cube, that didn’t roll off the lot
until 2002.
7 years after that is when it finally hit the US market and made us Americans start
to ponder as to whether we loved it or hated it, because typically there really is no in
between.
It’s funky boxy shape and wrap around window just make it seem so odd, especially for such
a modest car.
And yes, these are actually cars, not SUVs despite what the body style would make you
think.
All of their trims offered a 4 cylinder but did include a diesel option.
They’re all right cars, I can’t really say anything negative, except to point out
the 2010 recall they got.
Apparently they failed to abide by federal motor vehicle safety standards for having
excessive fuel leakage in the event of a rear end collision.
Although it was practical and relatively safe, I still reserve the right to point out that
they are quirky and weird, hence the spot on this list.
alright guys now it's your turn.
Comment some quirky cars I might have missed in the comment section below.
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As always thanks for watching, till next time.